Absorbent garments, such as adult incontinence wear, infant and children's diapers, swim wear and training pants, include leg openings having an elastic portion around each leg opening, and a waist opening having an elastic portion at least partially surrounding the waist opening. The elastic portions about the leg openings are intended to fit snugly around a wearer's legs to inhibit leakage of body exudates from the garment. The leakage performance and aesthetic appearance of some absorbent articles can be improved by leg elastics having curvature and/or displacement (i.e., being profiled) along their lengths.
However, many known techniques for applying leg elastics to a moving web during the manufacture of absorbent articles are often limited in the amount of displacement (e.g., the amount of amplitude in a curved pattern) that can be achieved. Thus, leg elastics in most known absorbent articles produced at high line speeds are often straight or relatively straight. Some known techniques for placing leg elastics with significant amounts of displacement (i.e., curvature) onto a web at high line speeds have been unsatisfactory. For example, these techniques have resulted in leg elastics being placed off target.
Additionally, in at least some absorbent articles, more tension is desired in certain areas around the leg, such as in the crotch area, than in other areas around the leg, such as in the area away from the crotch. However, many known techniques for imparting a desired differential stretch profile to leg elastics have been unsatisfactory. For example, many known techniques are limited in the amount of differential stretch profile that can be imparted to a leg elastic.
Thus, there exists a need for an apparatus and method suitable for shaping segments of material in highly shaped profiles, imparting a desired stretch profile to such segments, and applying such segments to a moving web (e.g., a web moving at high line speeds).